Copyholder



March l2, 1940. sf op s I 2,193,028

COPYHOLDER Filed Oct. 21, 1938 ROY S HOPKINS T INVEN TOR Q10 BY f 15 ATTORNE Patented Mar. 12, 1940 GOPYHOLDER Roy S. Hopkins, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 21, 1938, Serial No. 236,286

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a copyholder and more particularly to a copyholder which is suitable for holdingin a fiat condition large drawings, maps, etc. which have been stored in rolls.

It is well recognized that maps or drawings which have been rolled for any length of time have acquired a set and that it is exceedingly diiiicult to lay such documents fiat either for inspection or for copying purposes. 1

The primary objectof the present invention is the provision of a simple and effective copyf holder which can be easily operated by one person to unroll and maintain a map or drawing in a flat position upon a plane support.

Another object of the invention is the provision on' a copyholder of a movable assembly which is supported by rolling means for parallel movement and which can be readily moved along the copy support or toward or away from the document thereon.

A further oIoJect of the invention is the provision on a copy support of a pair of toothed racks and of a movable assembly including a document-engaging member and a pair of connected pinion gearsin engagement with the racks, the document-engaging member being movable to hold the document against the support and/or being movable along the support to engage different portions of a large document.

Other and further objects of the invention will be suggested to those skilled in the art by the description which follows.

The above and other objects of the invention are embodied in a copyholder comprising in combination a support for a document, guide members, such as toothed racks, in spaced relation on said support, a movable assembly including a document-engaging member. and rolling means, such as pinion gears, connected together on said movable assembly and in rolling engagement or in mesh with said guide members for supporting the assembly over the support and for maintaining said assembly in parallelism during movement along the support.

Reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawing wherein like reference characters designate similar elements and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the copyholder of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of such a copyholder.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the copyholder comprises a support ID which may conveniently be provided as the top of a table. A pair of guide members are mounted in spaced relation'on said support Ill and in the preferred form of the invention constitute a pair of toothed racks II.

A movable assembly accordingto the invention includes a movable document-engaging member which may be moved toward or away from the documentupon the support l0 and which is also movable with the assembly to engage different portions of a document or documents of diiierent 10 dimensions. Such a movable ass'emblymay comprise a shaft 13, carrying a sleeve Hi to which the document-engaging member I"! is attached by a plurality of screws l9. Said sleeve is may rotatefreely on the. shaft 13 and the document- 15 engaging member I! extends to one side of the sleeve It so as to be unbalanced and normally to be urged by gravity toward the surface of support It).

Rolling means are connected together on the 20 aforementioned movable assembly and are in rolling engagement with the spaced guide members both to support the assembly over the support Ill and to compel movement in parallelism of said movable assembly along said support in. 25 Such rolling means may be in frictional engagement with the guide members but are preferably provided as pinion gears l2, each fastened by set screws I2 to the shaft l3 and each in positive engagement or meshing with the teeth of the 30 racks ll. Since both of said pinion gears l2 are fastened to the shaft l3 it will be clear that the shaft l3 and the document-engaging member I! will be maintained in parallelism during movement along the support Ill and over 35 the toothed racks H.

Although not essential to the invention, it is considerably more convenient to provide guide means on the movable assembly for maintaining the rolling means, such as the pinion gears 40 I2, in engagement with the guide members or toothed racks I I. Such a guide means may comprise end plates l4 journaled over each end of the shaft l3 and held in place thereon by collars I4. A pair of rollers 15 are rotatably mount- 45 ed upon each of the end plates M for engagement with the guide members or toothed racks ll tohold the movable assembly and the rolling means thereof in engagement with said guide members. 50

A manual means is also mounted on the movable assembly and may comprise a handle l8 fastened to the document-engaging member I1. Such a manual means or handle l8 will serve a dual purpose, first it may be rotated to cause sembly may be accomplished either with the memher i l in engagement to hold a document against the support ill or in spaced relation and out of contact with the document on the support so.

The operation of the copyholder and particularly the pair of movable assemblies for easy handling of large rolled documents will now be explained. One end of the rolled document is inserted under the shafts [3 or sleeves it of the movable assembly. The pair of movable assemblies may be moved close together to facilitate this operation and it will also be understood that the guide means composed of end plates l4 and rollers it will prevent displacement or disarrangement of the movable assemblies during such threading or insertion of the end of the document under the movable assembly. This condition of the rolled document R is illustrated by the dotdash lines in fig. 2. i

The operator now has several options, first, one handle it of one movable assembly may be pressed firmly to hold the document securely against the support it] and the other handle it may be rotated to press member l! and the document against the support but at the same time may be moved along the support H! simultaneously to unroll the document and to flatten it against the support. It is, of course, understood that at all times the movable assemblies must vmove in parallelism or with the edges of document-engaging members H parallel to each other. Thus the documents may be unrolled or any section of them may be flattened against the support ill.

Since many variations of the invention are possible, the scope of the invention is to be determined only by the appended claims.

Having now particularly described my invention what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States and what I claim is:

1. In a copyholder for documents, the combination with a document support, and guide members in spaced relation on said support, of a pair of independently movable assemblies each including a pair of rolling members connected together and respectively engaging said guide members, and each including a document engaging member normally urged toward said support to hold a document thereagainst and movable along said support in perpendicular relation to said guide members, each of said document mem here being maintained in parallel relation to each other by engagement of said rolling members with said guide members whereby said document engaging members are held against a portionof a curled or rolled document and either of said document engaging members is moved away from the other to smooth and /or hold said document in fiat position on said support.

2. In a copyhold-er'for documents, the combination. with a document support having opposite edges and a pair of stationary racks each mounted along one of said edges of said support, of a pair of movable assemblies each comprising a shaft, pinion gears fixed to opposite ends of said shaft and each in engagement with one of said racks, and a document engaging member journaled on said shaft and normally urged toward said support to hold a document thereagainst, each of said assemblies being independently movable with said document engagins members perpendicularto said guide members and parallel to each other whereby said document engaging members may be brought adjacent each other over a curled or rolled document and either of said document engaging members may be moved away from the other to smooth and hold at least a portion of said document fiat on said support.

' ROY S. I-IOPIGNS. 

